Prologue
When I was 5 years old, I started having these strange dreams. I would see this small figure sitting on the floor, staring at me. It’s eyes were yellow with green irises without pupils. I was terrified and woke myself up to tell my parents. They told me it was only just a dream and they sent me off to bed. I wouldn’t sleep though. I just stared at where the figure sat until the sun rose. Every night I would have the same dream. They wouldn’t move. They wouldn’t blink. They would just stare at me. I would wake myself up and cry.
Once I got over my fear, I confronted them. I didn’t know if it was a girl or a boy, the voice was different. It was a girl’s voice at times, then it was a boy’s. I asked them why they were there. They didn’t know. They said they just there. I asked it if they had a name and they shook their head no. I felt bad for them and decided to name them K. K told me to never tell anyone about their existence. I was small enough to listen and not question why at the time. K had me promise to them that I would keep them a secret. I agreed. But promise are meant to be broken, secrets are meant to be told.
When I was in 5th grade, I broke that promise when I told my best friend about K. She thought I was crazy and told the whole class. They thought I was crazy too. I had completely forgotten the promise I made to K and told someone. When I got home, I told my family about K and what happened. My brother laughed. My parents looked at each other with scared looks. They told me that I was imagining things and it was time to do my homework.
At bedtime, I finally remembered my promise to K. I felt like a terrible friend. I fell asleep so I could apologize. K wasn’t sitting like they usually was. They was standing two feet away from me.
“You broke your promise,” K said. “You broke it.”
“I’m sorry!” I pleaded. “I-I didn’t mean too! I just wanted everyone to know how amazing you are-!” I was cut off by K wrapping their hands around my neck. I gasped for air, clawing at their hands.
“You broke your promise. You must pay the price.” K said. My neck started to burn as my eyes widened. Tears pricked my eyes as I woke myself up.
I took a deep breath in and coughed. I softly put my hand to my neck. K was never able to touch me before. The thing I thought was my friend almost killed me. I didn’t sleep that night. I was too scared.
I told my parents about what happened and they signed me up for therapy. I went to therapy for months everyday of the week and my therapist put me on pills that would help my “hallucinations.” When I went to sleep, I didn’t see K. I was relieved but sad at the same time. I wanted to work things out with K. They were my friend.
What I didn’t know was that K was still there, plotting. They were trying to figure out the right way for me to pay the price. A big price at that.
